Soviet Princeton

Slim Evans and the 1932-33 Miners' Strike

"Soviet Princeton is the first published account of the 1932-33 clash between striking miners and mine owners in Princeton, BC, a small mining town a few hundred kilometres east of Vancouver. The authors scoured newspapers and court records from local and provincial archives to piece together the story of how the town's business interests and newspaper editor joined forces against striking coal miners led by Slim Evans, a notorious labour organizer who would later lead the On to Ottawa Trek. Evans was summoned to Princeton from Vancouver and swiftly organized the miners, who were joined by unemployed men and relief camp inmates, in their protest against mine owners' attempts to cut wages. The local paper then began a long propaganda campaign denouncing the strike and even portraying the miners as agents of Soviet invaders. Despite a dramatic and violent winter of confrontation--miners were attacked on picket lines by police and in the streets by thugs; the KKK threatened the miners; Evans was kidnapped and put on a train west--the miners prevailed."--